00000345 |
Previous | 345 of 684 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
310 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
their right resting on Brunswick and their left on Millstone Creek, where
they began to fortify. While stationed here, Howe endeavored, without success, to draw out Washington from his strong position and bring on a general
engagement.
On the 29th of March, General and Admiral Howe received a letter from
Charles Lee, formerly a British colonel, but now an American general, and
a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. In this letter, which was only discovered eighty years afterwards, and never acknowledged by the Howes, lest they
should be taunted with having failed, through the suggestions of a traitor,
General Lee writes: "To bring matters to a conclusion, it is necessary to
unhinge or dissolve, if I may so express myself, the whole system or machine
of resistance, or, in other terms, congress government. This system or
machine, as affairs now stand, depends entirely on the circumstances
and disposition of the people of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. If
the Province of Maryland, or the greater part of it, is reduced or submits,
and the people of Virginia are prevented or intimidated from marching aid to
the Pennsylvania army, the whole machine is dissolved,* and a period put to
the war, to accomplish which is the object of the scheme which I now take
the liberty of offering to the consideration of his lordship and the general;
and if it is adopted in full, I am so confident of the success that I would stake
my life on the issue." By this " scheme," fourteen thousand men were " to
clear the Jerseys and take possession of Philadelphia," and "four thousand
be immediately embarked in transports, one-half of which should proceed up.
the Potomac and take post at Alexandria, the other half up Chesapeake Bay,.
and possess themselves of Annapolis." . . From these posts proclamations'
of pardon were to be "issued to all those who come in at a given day; and I
will answer for it with my life, that all the inhabitants of that great tract
southward of the Patapsco, and lying betwixt the Potomac and Chesapeake
Bay, and those on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, will immediately lay down
their arms. But this is not all. I am much mistaken if those potent and
populous German districts, Frederick County in Maryland, and York in
Pennsylvania, do not follow^ their example;" and thus congress cut off from
its constituents, and Washington cut off from reinforcements, in " less than
two months from the date of this proclamation, not a spark of this desolating
war " would remain " unextinguished in any part of the continent."1
Information was now received by congress that a formidable army
from Canada, under General Burgoyne, Avas approaching Ticonderoga;
and Washington, fearing that it was the intention of the enemy to get possession of the Hudson River and the communication with Canada, and thus cut
off the Eastern from the Southern States, he despatched Lord Stirling's and
Sullivan's division across the Hudson to take a position at Peekskill. This
movement was to have been followed by the whole army, and the commander-
in-chief had himself proceeded some distance towards the Highlands by way
1 G. W. Greene's Life of Nathaniel Greene, i., p. 387. Moore's Treason of Charles Lee.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000345 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 310 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. their right resting on Brunswick and their left on Millstone Creek, where they began to fortify. While stationed here, Howe endeavored, without success, to draw out Washington from his strong position and bring on a general engagement. On the 29th of March, General and Admiral Howe received a letter from Charles Lee, formerly a British colonel, but now an American general, and a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. In this letter, which was only discovered eighty years afterwards, and never acknowledged by the Howes, lest they should be taunted with having failed, through the suggestions of a traitor, General Lee writes: "To bring matters to a conclusion, it is necessary to unhinge or dissolve, if I may so express myself, the whole system or machine of resistance, or, in other terms, congress government. This system or machine, as affairs now stand, depends entirely on the circumstances and disposition of the people of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. If the Province of Maryland, or the greater part of it, is reduced or submits, and the people of Virginia are prevented or intimidated from marching aid to the Pennsylvania army, the whole machine is dissolved,* and a period put to the war, to accomplish which is the object of the scheme which I now take the liberty of offering to the consideration of his lordship and the general; and if it is adopted in full, I am so confident of the success that I would stake my life on the issue." By this " scheme," fourteen thousand men were " to clear the Jerseys and take possession of Philadelphia," and "four thousand be immediately embarked in transports, one-half of which should proceed up. the Potomac and take post at Alexandria, the other half up Chesapeake Bay,. and possess themselves of Annapolis." . . From these posts proclamations' of pardon were to be "issued to all those who come in at a given day; and I will answer for it with my life, that all the inhabitants of that great tract southward of the Patapsco, and lying betwixt the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, and those on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, will immediately lay down their arms. But this is not all. I am much mistaken if those potent and populous German districts, Frederick County in Maryland, and York in Pennsylvania, do not follow^ their example;" and thus congress cut off from its constituents, and Washington cut off from reinforcements, in " less than two months from the date of this proclamation, not a spark of this desolating war " would remain " unextinguished in any part of the continent."1 Information was now received by congress that a formidable army from Canada, under General Burgoyne, Avas approaching Ticonderoga; and Washington, fearing that it was the intention of the enemy to get possession of the Hudson River and the communication with Canada, and thus cut off the Eastern from the Southern States, he despatched Lord Stirling's and Sullivan's division across the Hudson to take a position at Peekskill. This movement was to have been followed by the whole army, and the commander- in-chief had himself proceeded some distance towards the Highlands by way 1 G. W. Greene's Life of Nathaniel Greene, i., p. 387. Moore's Treason of Charles Lee. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| B |
|
| C |
|
| G |
|
| H |
|
| M |
|
| T |
|
| U |
|
